Traditional gift wrapping material is provided in flat sheets of paper that the gift-giver must then measure, cut, wrap around the gift item, and tape into position. The gift-giver may then finish the gift with ribbon. Not only does this operation require time and effort and generate trash (excess paper, tape, and ribbon), but the gift recipient typically generates more trash when he/she unwraps the gift and throws away the paper and ribbon that was used.
More recently, paper gift bags have been provided for gift-givers to use—eliminating the paper waste and reducing the time and effort for the gift-giver to prepare the gift. For the sake of this simplicity, “fit” has been sacrificed. Because gift bags do not fit each gift's particular size and shape, gift-givers often use several sheets of tissue paper to “wrap” the gift and/or fill up the paper bag.
There have been some prior efforts to address these problems. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,062 to Wechsler discloses a gift bag made from stretchable material that fits various shapes and sizes of gifts. However, Wechsler's material is a see-thru hosiery netting (and is consistently described as such throughout the entire document, including the claims), not an opaque material as is the Applicant's, and so cannot conceal the gift completely—allowing for a much narrower range of application. (Applicant's stretchy materials have a much tighter weave than netting and so offer complete concealment.) In addition, Wechsler's material does not lend itself to being finished as in the Applicant's methods—by tying bows or knots with the material itself. (Wechsler uses a ribbon or drawstring.) Also, the Applicant has identified and solved a problem that Wechsler does not address—that of the bottom corners. (Wechsler conveniently does not show the corners in her drawing figures.)
Other efforts, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,932 to Pekala et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,389 to Gilmore et al. simply disclose loose gift bags made of fabric rather than paper but which, because they are not stretchy, do not conform to the gift item's shape or offer the finishing treatments of Applicant's bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,458 to French discloses a gift wrapping made of a stretchy material, but the wrapping is not intended to cover—and does not cover—the entire gift item. French's wrapping is applied to the gift item in a different way, using elastic straps to hold the wrapping on only a part of the gift item. Even French's alternate embodiment of a sleeve of material is limited in its application. Because French wraps only cylindrical bottles, once again, she does not address the problem of corners, and does not offer finishing treatments as does Applicant.